Sabi Sabi Bush Lodge vs Mala Mala
 

Mala Mala is booked for when we are attempting to go in 2007. Our tour operator has suggested Sabi Sabi Bush Lodge as an alternative. I do not know anything about this and am looking for opinions

To the best of my knowledge, the game viewing at Sabi Sabi isnt as good as MM. Sabi Sabi and Lion Sands share some traversing areas with each other and i dont think they have a good relationship between each other. I hv been to Lion Sands. Game viewing was ok, not as good as MM.

I will be at Exeter next week. Will be glad to report back.

Hari

There is a road that separates MM from SS. It must be one "hell-of-a divide" to make the game viewing better in MM than SS.

SS & LS do not share traversing, they operate in their own territory.

Bush Lodge was refurbished in 2000, the rooms were quadrupled in size and at the same time the capacity of the lodge was reduced by four. The camp is spread out with wonderful decor, most rooms enjoy a spectacular view of the savanah in front of the lodge and an attractive waterhole.

The food is outstanding, five course dinners, three buffet islands for lunch, and well breakfast is breakfast, you can have it all from what I recall.

Staff at bush are friendly and welcoming, whats to add, it IMO is a more than suitable alternate to MM.

Hello Spiegel,

Sorry to hear that MM Is full. I'd recommend taking a look at Londolozi next door - it has the second-largest exclusive traversing areas in the Sabi Sands (after MM) and excellent game-viewing. I've stayed at Londolozi several times and had superb leopard sightings in addition to close-up viewing of rhino, lion, cheetah, and even wild dog (twice!).

http://www.londolozi.com

Cheers,
Julian

Just returned 3 weeks ago from
Sabi Sabi Bush Lodge. We had a wonderful time, and the accomodations and staff could not have been nicer! Food was great and the rooms were amazing, even though we didn't spend that much time in the room. Jabu was a fabulous guide, and he took us out on additional drives in his quest to make sure that we saw more. Amazing experience of tracking leopards....saw them mating one day and actually saw a leopard stalk and kill an impala on the night drive.

Hi spiegelcjs,
I have not stayed at Sabi Sabi,but I have stayed at Lion Sands and I would definitely agree with Hari that the gameviewing is not as good at Lion Sands as it is at MM.

Lion Sands has 1 territorial male, , while MM has 4 territorial males, so they have a far larger area. I have seen Sabi Sabi vehicles sharing a road with Lion Sands vehicle and we often passed one of their camps, situated on what I would consider a fairly well used road. The vehicles that I saw from Sabi Sabi were mostly overcrowded. In my opinion, the gameviewing is better at MalaMala, I think the Sand River has a lot to do with it and of course the size of the property. MM is a similar size camp to the Sabi Sabi camps, but I have never seen the traffic at MM that I have seen at Lion Sands.

I have been to a few camps in the Sabi Sands, MM is my absolute favourite, though I have returned from Londolzoi in July and I had good gameviewing there, even though I found it disappointing in December 2005.

Does your tour operator have any other suggestions?

Opinions really do vary so much you need to try and read as much as possible about what people have seen at Sabi Sabi and if they have been happy. Food and decor would not be why I am choosing my gameviewing lodge.

Kind regards,
Kaye

I have to agree with Kaye, that i dont pick camps/lodges for their accomodations/food.

Trvlcrzy,
Is Jabu the big guy? If he is the same guy who used to guide at Lion Sands, couple yrs ago.....i hv to agree that he is very good.

Hari

Jabu is a big guy and I know he said he had been at Sabi Sabi, left to go to another camp, and had returned to Sabi. He really was great! July was his tracker.

Decor does not matter to me at all. You spend so little time in the room and most of that is asleep. The game viewing is the thing. Assuming MM is booked, what other suggestion do you have. Londolozi has been suggested. Is there a particular camp that is better than another.

trvlcrzy,

Ah, so i guess we are talking of the same guy......good to hear he is still around in the area. In 2003, at Lion Sands we spent lots of time with a female cheetah trying to hunt impala. Lots of fond memories....

Hari

Hi spiegelcjs

This is my opinion only -

I had a bad experience at Bateleur last December, bad may be too harsh a word, let us say, unpleasant memories, but I had already started booking through CCA for July 2006, so I decided to proceed but would not go back to Bateleur. This time I went to Founders and Pioneer and I had a chalet at Founders and a suite at Pioneer and to be honest I was perfectly happy with the chalet at Founders. All the staff were so helpful and friendly and nothing was too much trouble. I had a friend that works at Singita with her husband and baby to lunch twice, and the staff at both those camps could not have been any nicer.

My gameviewing was very good and I had the same ranger and tracker for both camps and they were just fantastic, tracking for days for leopard and lion cubs, while I reclined on the seat with a book and kept an eye on the vehicle.

Though given a choice, I would prefer MM, Londolozi would be my 2nd choice.

Kind regards,
Kaye

Hari: We also had the chance to spend a lot of time with the female leopard as she stalked the impala. Was fascinating!! Then we went back to the kill area the next morning and found that she had been successful in keeping her kill, aka no hyenas, but she had moved it to a more secluded area.

You might consider Djuma, which is the property just north of MalaMala.

Another possibility is Kirkman's, which used to be part of MalaMala (southern end). I was there in February and saw lions, leopards, rhinos...on one drive we saw the Big 5. They are now owned by Exeter, but are managed by CC Africa. Kirkman's has some traversing rights with the southern part of MM.

Hello,

My favourite camps at Londoz are Tree Camp and Pioneer Camp. Both are very small (6 rooms each) and intimate. The staff are very warm and welcoming and, as Kaye says, nothing is too much trouble. Next year, Founders Camp will be reduced to 5 rooms (all chalets) so it should provide an equally intiimate experience. I'd recommend going with one of these three unless you really want a chalet with a private plunge pool, in which case Varty Camp (FKA Bateleur Camp) is the best option.

Cheers,
Julian

I do not need a private plunge pool. I do not have this at home so therefore will not miss it. I am going for the animals and that is all. I will talk to my tour operator on Monday about these three options.

Shay Tay,

I'm sure Kirkman's is a great camp, but, i dont think the game viewing is as good as other areas in the Sabi Sands. However, you have a fair chance of seeing the Selati pride which is a very large pride (atleast during my MM visit in 04)

Hari

Hari,
please would you share with me how it is that you know the intimacies of the games dispersion around the sabi sand. Please educate me on the bio mass diversity that makes the game in the kirkmans area less prolific than londolozi as an example.

It baffles my brain that you come up with these inane statements that the game is good bad or indeifferent without offering a justification?

Curiously standing by.

I'll offer my thoughts on the Sabi Sands, but this is based on one visit but a lot of reading.

To me, the Sabi Sands seems like one medium-size private reserve (one that, if in Botswana, would have two or three lodges at most).

So, I would think the lodges with the best game viewing would be those with the largest area (MM), along a river and near the center of the reserve (I would conjecture that lodges furthest from Kruger and westermost in the Sabi Sands, like Ulusaba, would have the worst game viewing since they wouldn't get a lot of animals crossing their area).

I'm not a huge fan of the Sabi Sands, but if I return, from what I've read, I likely will visit MM, and that decision is based largely on the fact that MM is, by far, the largest reserve and its adjacent to Kruger, so animals crossing from Kruger to the Sabi Sands cross MM.

Mkhonzo,

I did stay at Mala Mala in 2004 and went down that far south only once in a four night stay to see the Selati pride. My guide on the trip, mentioned that the game down there wasnt as prolific. Apparently, this has been mentioned by other posters on this board about Kirkman's. I dont mean to offend anyone....nor get into an arguement at this final minute of my stressful packing for my trip. I request you to do a search here.....

Rgds
Hari

As the Spiegelcjs pointed out in the original posting, MalaMala isn't available; hence, my recommendation for adjacent properties. In 2001, I stayed at Harry's Camp in MM in when Kirkman's was a part of MM. We went south to the Kirkman's area as often as any other direction. It was in that area that we saw a large lion pride on a kill and wild dogs.

In February, we had MM vehicles coming into Kirkman's area to see the game we were finding. One can never say what they will see on any given game drive. During my 10-day stay at MM, we had "Big 5" drives and "Mouse" drives (that little furry creature being about the only thing we saw.) Kirkman's has the Sand River running through its area and has traversing rights to about a third or fourth of the original MM property. For a Sabi Sand property, it's reasonably priced (low season rates are currently advertised at ZAR2300, or about $350.) Being a CC Africa camp, you could also combine it with other CC Africa camps for a "long stay" discount rate.

Hari,
Then with respect, don't make the statement that the game is better or worse if you cannot back it up. If you stayed at a lodge and had a pleasant safari experience I believe that is the endorsement that people on this board are looking for, well those that are serious about their travels and not supporting other agendas.

I (as you might have gathered) get frustrated with people offering up misleading non-information in what appears to be an attempt to dissuade from poster x from a choice that might not pair with theirs.

OK, so I have had a rant, sorry folks.

Back to the S/Sand: I worked as a guide for fifteen years betixt and between the Sabi Sand and others. I have seen almost all of the sabi sand properties in my capacity as a ranger as well as a guest. Frankly and quite honestly there is NO difference in the game quantities across the sands. Seasonally there is some minor change but not dramatic. And no the Sand river is not a barrier to any migration, there is no longer a migration in the southern Kruger.

Hari,
Travel safely in these turbulent times & above all I hope you have amemorable vacation.

Mkhonzo,

I fully respect your views and will take great care in what i have to write in here.....sorry, if i offended you in anyway. However, FYI...i do not have any agendas (personally) in favour or against any of these camps. Just what i hv heard and i'm sorry that they aren't my personal experiences....

However, i will say that during my stay at Lionsands in 2003, there was hardly any general game. Lots of impalas, no wildebeest, one zebra sighting, one buffalo bull right by the lodge...However, the viewing of Leopards, Cheetah, Ele, Rhino were all very good. One brief glimpse of Lions inside SS territory.

Game viewing at MM, was very good in 2004. Those are my only 2 personal visits to the SSGR. MM is the only place where i hv personally seen Nyala. Sure, i will see more at Phinda this week. I will add my thoughts about Exeter after my visit this upcoming week.

Take care,
Hari

I've been to MM 9 times and Sabi Sabi 0, MM must be better, because as everyone knows I have impeccable taste.

Either that or you are saving the best for last?

mkhonzo:
You obviously have a great deal of knowledge and experience in this area. We have added Kruger to our list and cut back a little on the rest of the trip as I wanted to make sure we saw the most we can as we are not going at the prime season. We are traveling from June 5 to June 23 and are planning on this area from June 17-and leaving June 20 for Cape Town. Re: Mala Mala vs Sabi Sands Bush Lodge, I am more concerned with the game viewing than the accomodations. If I wanted high end luxury I could stay in California and go to the Ritz Carton and drink Martini's. What confuses me the most is the issue of traversing rights. Are there fences up that divide the various areas. Does Mala Mala have its own area and Sabi Sands another. Friends are staying at Jock SAfari Lodge as we speak and is this a different area also?When researching the Botswana portion of the trip I understood the time of year and issue with the flood waters and different camps; I do not understand this part . Please help.

No fences, the guides know where the property lines are and respect them. Who is your agent? they should be able to explain in great detail all your questions and concerns.

The Sabie-Sand Wildtuin is an entirely private Game Reserve that adjoins the Kruger National Park along its western boundary. The name is derived from the two prominent rivers, the Sabie & the Sand.

Up until 1993 the reserve was isolated from the Kruger by a low fence, which was kept in place simply to restrict the movement of cloven hoofed animals in an attempt to use the Sabie-sand Wildtuin as a buffer between the Kruger Park and the agricultural communities to the west, this was hoped to reduce the spread of foot and mouth disease. In 1993 the Sabie Sands dropped the fence between intself and the KNP consequently becoming an extension of the park.

Within the Sabie Sands there are numerous lodges that have their own land, which they utilise for exclusive safaris. Many of these lodges come up in discussion, Sabi sabi, mala mala, londolozi, exeter, Idube, dulini, singita and so on.

Then more recently the kruger offered concessions to tenders to operate "private styled" lodges within the gtreater park. Although the Jock Camp is one, it was however a camp long before the tender process having been built by the Cecily Nivens family(she's the late grand daughter of Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, auther of Jock of The Bushveld) and used by the public. It was later sold and is now what it is. Actually in a great area of the park.

Hope that helps clear the muddy water?

I agree completely with Mkhonzo. I have also stayed in most of the lodges in the Sabi Sand and because we are dealing with wildlife - not a zoo, the game differs from time to time. All of the lodges are in much the same area and the animal roam freely. MM has a bigger traversing area and is one of the oldest lodges.

All of the lodges in the Sabi Sand offer an excellent game viewing experience because there are no fences between them.

Regarding the MM ranger's comments to Hari about the game-viewing not being as good in the Kirkman's area: There is a rivalry between MM and Kirkman's because of their previous association. Think cross-town rivals in football... The rangers and trackers often put down the "other guys", usually in a good-natured way. When we were on a game sighting with a MM vehicle, our Kirkman's ranger (who used to work at MM) said, "Don't get their vehicle sign in your photo!" Still, they willingly communicated with MM to tell them of good sightings in the shared area.

Shaytay - didn't see that. At Rattrays earlier thsi year, we ran across the Kirkmans guides a few times and there seemed to be a very good rapport. In fact when we were broken down, a Kirkmans vehicle picked us up, took us to see some Lions then dropped us back at our vehicle.

My word Napa, you broke down while on safari in a mala mal vehicle, that is very bad news indeed! thought they were too good to break down!
(If I new how to do those yellow m&m things, it would be a winking one)
Cheers, MKZO

You mean like this

:@ b( =; >:-) :-[ :)>-

Showoff! :-D

As I said, napamatt, the rivalry is good-natured. The rangers at each property no doubt take pride in their area. However, when one has a problem, I'm sure the other would not hesitate to help, as you experienced.